This was a comprehensive hip hop, film and urban culture blog written entirely by an information junkie/graphomaniac Bostonian ex emcee/film student/record and video store manager/graf writer/streetballer called Dart Adams.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Last Dartflix Of 2008 AKA Dartflix Edition #47

The weekend of the 5th saw all of the new entries to theaters fail miserably to find audiences as Marvel's newest film "Punisher: War Zone" only managed to bring in a paltry $4.27 million to come in 8th at the box office. The reason it did so poorly is because it's a terrible fuckin' movie, the three movies that made me laugh the most this year were "Tropic Thunder", "Max Payne" and "Punisher: War Zone"...as we all know, only ONE of these films was a comedy. The over the top violence and large body count couldn't make up for the horrible script, story or acting. How could they make an even worse Punisher movie?

"Cadillac Records" opened at #9 on the box office list by bringing in only $3.44 million dollars over the same weekend. It received mixed reviews from critics and fans but I liked it. It did gloss over many key events in the illustrious history of Chess Records but to be fair they had so many great artists and hits over the years that in order to do them all justice the film would've had to be over 3 hours long (no Che). It's a shame that the great performance that Jeffrey Wright gave as Muddy Waters might end up getting overlooked. Mos Def as Chuck Berry ("fix this, Leonard!")? C'mon man!

The highly anticipated remake "The Day The Earth Stood Still" was a disappointment both quality wise and at the box office although it took the #1 spot with a $30.4 million dollar take over the weekend. The entire film seemed rushed at under 100 minutes and it just didn't rival the drama or suspense of the groundbreaking original film. It expect there to be a significant drop off next week as I couldn't get over seeing the coach from "Friday Night Lights" trying to get to the bottom of things or seeing a Black kid call the cops on an illegal alien that his stepmom is harboring (?).

Over the next couple of weeks films like "The Wrestler", "The Brothers Bloom", "Seven Pounds", "The Spirit", "Valkyrie", "Waltz With Bashir" and "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" all finally open and the box office should end on a high note during the holdiay season. I'll try to do some movie review blogs since I only have the anniversary edition of "A Tale Of Ten Trailers" coming up on the 20th and no new Dartflix entry until January 6th, 2009. Then comes the beginning of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival the following week. Enough of me, let's get to the recommendations.

Films I recommend in theaters (12.15.08-12.31.08) or to add to your queue early or for rental from either Netflix or Redbox:

Vital Information About Dart

If you don't know who I am by now then Google my previous work from 2006 to the present day. I'm one of the people your favorite writers, journalists & bloggers ask for help or information. I'm also the dude wack writers & fake journalists fear more than Spell/GrammarCheck.